Rolling wave effect

[scott-dickson]

I have a bunch of objects lined up in a row... there's no environment... it's just a void. I simply want to animate the objects in such a way that it appears that a rolling wave is passing underneath. (I want to create a sequence of rolling rising-and-falling, set to music.)
Would I actually use fluid dynamics for this? (Even though the "fluid" would remain unseen?)

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

[thnkr]

You could make an ocean, select all your objects and do
[Dynamics] Fluid Effects->Pond->Make Boats then hide the ocean surface.

[scott-dickson]

I actually tried that, but it creates a lot of uneven choppiness (that I don't want) and I can't seem to generate a controlled, directional rolling wave.Any other suggestions?

[joojaa]

Well one way would be to .copy objects scale those to 0 at their center. Apply a wave or sine defomer on them, then use blendshape the objects back to original shape.

Or write a expression.

Or use closest point on surface nodes and move the surface beneath the objects.

Or  make one object move and copy thet anim with offset to all other objects

And a few more absurd ways. (yes i know the first seems absurd but its pretty straightforward)